President’s Page: Count America’s Blessings and Welcome Baby 300 Million

The U.S. Census Bureau announced in October that the U.S. population has passed the 300 million threshold, an increase that bodes well for all Americans and their continued prosperity. During a time when the populations of other industrialized countries were stagnant or falling, U.S. numbers continue to rise. The birth of Baby 300 Million betokens better quality of life for all Americans.

The Fear-Mongers at Work

Of course, many disagree. Chief among the fear-mongers is a group of misanthropes who style themselves Negative Population Growth, who ceaselessly tell us that “such massive numbers are something to fear rather than celebrate,” and that we are “setting the stage for massive economic, social and environmental problems.”

The odd thing about this residual doom and gloom over the birth of Baby 300 Million is that everyone now recognizes that American’s population is aging. With American women averaging only 2.0 children, below the replacement rate fertility of 2.1 our population can only be sustained by immigration. America’s long-term problem is not too many people, but too few people, especially of working age.

Immigration’s Contribution

In absolute numbers, our population has grown from 248 million in 1990 to 300 million today. Roughly one-third of this increase is attributable to immigration. The rest is due to natural increase, which is obviously preferable on many counts. It is better to birth and raise citizens than at· tempt to import and assimilate them, especially in large numbers. Still, it is also better to welcome strangers into our midst than to reject them, as Japan does. In the Land of the Rising Sun, an anemic birthrate and inbred antipathy to new immigrants are combining to produce the world’s first low-birthrate recession.

Those who equate a larger population with a larger environmental “footprint,” as the current catch phrase goes, are oversimplifying. Our collective shoe size may be a multiple of our numbers hut it is divided by our wealth. And while our numbers have increased over the past few decades, our means have increased at an even faster rate. A robust economy is a huge stimulus to· ward conservation and provides the where-withal to prevent pollution. Prosperity and a clean environment go hand in hand, and both are fueled by population growth.

Freedom to Have Children

Some groups want to restrict American’s numbers by means of a “national population plan” enforced by the government. Such programs, such as China’s one-child policy, are common in other countries. Thankfully, American parents are still free to decide for themselves the number and spacing of their children. We should be grateful that most still decide to have two, despite the anti-people propaganda that dominates the public square. Our current modest levels of population increase should keep the US. economy humming along in the years to come. Legal immigration, a vital part of keeping America strong, should continue. Young couples should not he made to feel guilty about starting a family. Be fruitful and multiply. It’s good for all of us.

Welcome, Baby 300 million!

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